


College Life

by Sassy_assassin



Category: Borderlands, Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Good Dad Jack, M/M, Sugar Daddy Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9417410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sassy_assassin/pseuds/Sassy_assassin
Summary: Rhys is thrilled that Angel agreed to live with him, Vaughn, and Fiona. Having another roommate will definitely help with rent. Not that Angel needs to worry about rent with her dad being the CEO of Hyperion, Handsome Jack. Something Rhys wished he'd known before he ran into the man in the parking lot as he was helping Angel move in.





	1. Moving In

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this post   
> http://sassy-assassin.tumblr.com/post/132911154377/cassandrashipsit-madlori-aprillikesthings   
> on tumblr awhile back about a college sugar daddy au in the making and had this idea.

Rhys pulled out his phone, starting to play with it as he waited for Vaughn to get there. He looked at the message from Angel, indicating she’d be coming over with her stuff later. He shot back a text saying he should be home to help her move in, but gave her the gate code and told her that there was a spare key under the mat just in case. He looked up as his name was called, seeing Vaughn wave over at him. Rhys quickly grabbed his bag, shoving his phone back into his pocket to jog over towards his friend. 

“Hey man, what’s up?” Vaughn asked as the two headed towards lunch. 

“Angel is moving in today, she texted me to say she’d be over later.” 

Angel was their roommate, well soon to be roommate anyway. Rhys and Angel had met sophomore year of college, both being interested in robotic engineering and had become fast friends. The original plan had been for Rhys and Vaughn, along with their friends Fiona and Sasha, to get an apartment together their third year of college. However, after Sasha ended up moving in with her boyfriend, August, the three had needed another roommate and Rhys had asked Angel if she was interested. Not that Angel had needed a place to stay really. Apparently, her father was some corporate executive at Hyperion and they lived not too far from campus. Angel, however, had been thrilled at the offer. She was more than happy at the chance to be independent. According to Angel, her father could be more than slightly overprotective, and she was glad to have a place that was more or less all her own. 

“Oh that’s right. I still can’t believe she actually talked her dad into letting her move out. From her stories I was sure he was going to say no,” Vaughn mused. Rhys nodded in agreement. The two had gotten to one of their favorite restaurants on campus, which was their favorite mainly because it was cheap, but the food wasn’t too bad either. 

Vaughn grabbed a table while Rhys waited for their food. He thought about Angel moving in while he waited, and hoped he’d be back in time to help. He at least wanted someone to be home to welcome her. Rhys was glad Angel had convinced her dad to let her move out on her own, and not just for her sake, though that was part of it. Having Angel move in with them was definitely going to help with rent, which Rhys was glad for, being the poor college student he was. As he heard their order called he grabbed their food, weaving around the other tables to get to where Vaughn was sitting. 

“Thanks bro,” Vaughn said as he reached for his food. 

“No problem. Oh, I can’t stay for too long though, I told Angel I’d help her move in. She said her dad is driving her over around three,” Rhys added, looking at his phone for the time. He had about fifteen minutes before he should head back to the apartment. Vaughn nodded, his mouth full, before answering.

“Well, tell her I say welcome. I’d help, but I’ve got class in like a half hour,” Vaughn replied. “What about Fiona?”

“She’s visiting her sister, helping her pack,” Rhys answered. 

“Not gonna lie bro, I kind of thought Sasha and August were done for after the whole incident with August’s mom last semester,” Vaughn said, his eyes widening slightly as he remembered it. 

“Yeah, me too,” Rhys agreed. Sasha and Fiona had gotten into a fight with August’s mother, Vallory who by all accounts was more than slightly terrifying, in which August had failed to fully side with Sasha. She’d been furious with him. Rhys had thought the couple’s relationship was over at that, but apparently August had apologized and Sasha had given him a second chance. The two seemed much more stable now, with Vallory out of the picture once August had gotten his own place. Rhys was happy for them, and was definitely happy that August owned a bar now and let them drink at a reduced price. 

“We gonna celebrate at August’s bar tonight?” Vaughn asked. Rhys shrugged. 

“I’ll ask if they’re up for it,” He replied. “I think everyone’s just getting ready for school tomorrow, but I’m sure if they have time they’ll wanna relax.”

“True, just let me know what we’re doing,” Vaughn said, finishing up his burger. Rhys took the last few bites of his own, standing up to leave.

“Of course bro,” He said, giving Vaughn a fistbump before heading back to the apartment.

 

***

Rhys got back to the apartment, noticing that it was still empty. He was glad he’d managed to get there before Angel, knowing it would suck to arrive at an empty place. He picked up the key from under the doormat and took it inside. He figured he could give it to her when she got there. Rhys looked around the apartment, sighing as he noticed the empty take-out boxes on the table and dirty dishes that were in the sink. They’d only been living in the place for about a week, but somehow there were already dishes piling up. He glanced at his phone, noting the time and figured he could at least get started on the dishes. He might even finish them before Angel and her father arrived. Rhys went around the room, picking up any trash that had been left from Sasha’s going away celebration the night before. After the room looked relatively clean, he turned his attention to the dishes. He’d just finished drying the last plate when he heard a knock on the door. 

“Coming!” Rhys yelled as he quickly dried off his hands before opening the door. Angel beamed at him, her hands full with a large box. She walked in, placing the box on the ground. “Well, welcome! Vaughn wishes he could be here, but he’s got class. Oh! Also, your room will be the one at the end of the hall to the right,” Rhys said. 

“Thanks. Where’s Fiona?” Angel asked, wondering if the other woman was in the apartment somewhere. 

“She’s helping Sasha move. Do you have more stuff downstairs?” Rhys asked. 

“Yeah, just look for the yellow car in the parking lot. My dad’s getting some stuff out of the trunk.” 

Rhys nodded and went down to help as Angel picked up the box to move it to her new room. He walked into the parking lot around the apartment complex, looking for the car she’d mentioned. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the car. It was the most expensive looking sports car he’d ever seen. That couldn’t be the right one could it? Rhys slowly approached it, turning his attention to the man who was currently getting things out of the trunk of the car. It was incredible how much stuff was currently sitting next to the car, as sports cars weren’t generally known for their trunk space. 

“Hi, um Angel’s dad?” Rhys greeted, still unsure if this was the right car. Though it was the only yellow one in the entire lot. The man turned around, grinning when he saw Rhys.

“Yeah, but just call me Jack.” He greeted. Rhys’s eyes widened at the man standing before him. He’d known that Angel’s father worked at Hyperion, but he hadn’t known that he was the notorious CEO. Rhys’s dream job was to work at Hyperion. He’d already been looking into getting an internship there next year, but even their internship program was nearly impossible to get into. He stood stunned for a moment, not quite believing that he was standing next to Handsome Jack, CEO of Hyperion. He quickly made up his mind to never let Angel find out about the Handsome Jack posters that had adorned his wall for the past few years, vowing to not let them see the light of day as long as Angel lived with them.

“Oh, uh nice to meet you Jack,” Rhys replied, the first name feeling slightly weird on his tongue. “I’m Rhys.”

“You one of the roommates?” Jack asked, now eyeing him with slight suspicion. Rhys nodded as the other man looked him over. Angel’s dad was not what he had expected. Besides being the CEO of Hyperion, Jack was way younger than he would have thought Angel’s dad would have been. Rhys found himself staring into the mismatched pair of eyes not too dissimilar than his own. 

“Oh, Rhys good, you found the car,” Angel said, walking up to the two. 

“Yeah, it’s kind of hard to miss,” Rhys said slowly, looking at the flashy yellow sports car. Jack grinned. 

“That’s the point pumpkin.” The nickname rolling off his tongue effortlessly. Rhys wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he just picked up one of Angel’s boxes as Jack did the same, with Angel picking up the last bag. 

“Is that all?” Rhys asked, making sure they didn’t forget anything. 

“Yeah, Angel said there wasn’t room for anything else. Though I told her I could just buy her an apartment that would be able to fit all her stuff,” Jack grumbled, while Angel rolled her eyes at him.

“I want to live here. With Rhys, Fiona, and Vaughn. Living by myself would be lonely,” she replied. Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said, knowing that it had been just her and her father in the house for years now. “Sorry, I didn’t…” she trailed off, but Jack just scoffed.

“You say that now. Give it a month and you’ll be wanting to tear each other’s throats out.” 

Angel looked as if she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes again, but smiled once she realized that she hadn’t upset her dad. The three walked towards the elevator, pressing for the third floor. Jack snorted once Rhys opened the door to the apartment. “I can still get you your own apartment Angel.” He commented, looking at the small space. 

“I’m fine dad. Just put the box down on the bed here,” Angel said, placing her own bag down. She flopped on the bed. “Ugh I’m already tired, but I have to get my books today. One of my professors explicitly stated that we needed our books for tomorrow for our first assignment,” she frowned. “Have you gotten yours yet Rhys?” 

“No, not yet..” Rhys admitted. He knew he probably should’ve gotten them by now, but he’d been putting it off because of his current lack of funds.

“Come with us kiddo,” Jack suggested. Rhys looked at the older man, blinking in surprise as he thinks he sees Jack wink at him. He looked over at Angel, who shrugged and didn’t seem opposed to the idea.

“Uhh, ok,” Rhys agrees. He sees Jack smile at him, and he smiles back unsure what else to do.

***

It was a nightmare. Rhys’s eyes widened at the amount of people currently packed into the campus bookstore. Angel’s expression matched his own, as they watched the chaos unfold. Rhys knew he shouldn’t have waited to get his books. He was usually way more on top of things, but this semester had just kind of crept on him and getting his books had somehow slipped his mind. With the mass of students and parents crowded around them, he really regretted not buying his books earlier. 

“This place sure is busy,” Angel commented, trying to squeeze her way past the winding line of students to get further into the store. Rhys followed her and Jack, heading downstairs to where the books were kept. “Hey, you’re in my physics class this semester right?” Angel asked, already picking up the book. 

“Yeah, is that the book we need?” Rhys responded, and Angel nodded, handing a copy to him. Rhys pulled up the list of required textbooks on his phone. Scrolling to the bottom, his eyes widened as he saw the total price. “Shit,” he muttered to himself. He’d really need to cut down on any extra costs for the next couple months if he wanted to be able to pay the rent. Even with three other roommates, it would still be hard to make ends meet. He continued to grab other books off the shelves, following Jack and Angel while she grabbed all of her books. Jack was carrying them for her while she animatedly chattered to Rhys about how excited she was for the robotics class this semester. As they approached the counter Rhys held back waiting for the next cashier, pulling out his wallet. Jack looked back with a weird look when he noticed that Rhys wasn’t following. 

“What the hell you doing standing there kiddo?” Jack asked, pausing in his step. “Come on.” He grinned, throwing his arm around the younger man’s shoulders. 

“What?” Rhys said, unsure of what else to say or do while Jack dragged him to the register. 

“Just these,” Jack said, pulling out his own wallet. Rhys’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

“I can pay for these Jack,” Rhys said, trying to stop the cashier from ringing them up. Jack rolled his eyes at him. 

“Kid, I have personally seen your apartment. And while Angel has chosen to live there for reasons beyond me…” Jack started while Angel made an indignant noise at the comment, “...I seriously doubt you would live with three other roommates if you didn’t have to,” he finished as he handed over his credit card. 

“Let me at least pay for some of them,” Rhys said, grabbing for the top two textbooks. Jack looked at him, but didn’t try to stop him. Jack paid for the rest of his books along with Angel’s and the two stood over to the side while Rhys paid for the books he’d managed to snatch out of the pile.

“Uh thanks for paying for some of my books Jack. You didn’t have to do that,” Rhys said.

“I would’ve paid for all of them if you’d just let me,” Jack scoffed. Angel just rolled her eyes at them. Rhys looked over at the two as they walked back to the apartment. Honestly, Jack was right. His textbooks were outrageously expensive and he was more than strapped for cash, but he didn’t feel right having Jack pay for them. He’d barely met the man, even if he was Angel’s dad, and insanely rich. Still, it was nice not having to pay for everything.

Once back at the apartment, Rhys looked around for any sign of his other roommates. “Man, Vaughn and Fi aren’t back yet?” Rhys said, as the he placed his books into his room. It was nearing dinner time, the sky outside already turning dark. He heard someone, who he could only assume was Jack, since Angel was in her own room, rustling around in the kitchen. 

“Shit, is this all you have to eat!?” Jack exclaimed from down the hall. Rhys winced, and popped his head out of his doorway to look at Jack. He knew that no one had really had time to go grocery shopping yet. He’d basically been living off of instant ramen for the past few days. He rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.

“I’ve been meaning to go shopping, but haven’t had time,” he confessed. The past few days had been so busy that purchasing quality ingredients (read- anything but fast food and instant noodles) wasn’t exactly a priority. Rhys had been moving in himself, trying to get everything in order for the upcoming semester, and hadn’t had a whole lot of time for anything else. He’d figured he would have time to go grocery shopping the first week of classes, during the calm before the storm, since it was syllabus week. 

His answer hadn’t seemed to satisfy Jack, as the man narrowed his eyes at him before continuing to rummage through the kitchen. A triumphant noise came from Angel’s room as she appeared in the doorway of her room. 

“Done unpacking sweetheart?” Jack asked her as she walked over to him.

“Pretty much. I just have my clothes to unpack, but I can do that later. Everything else is good. I think I’ll be fine for tonight,” she smiled. “I am so looking forward to unwinding at August’s bar later.”

“Alright, alright. I can take a hint Angel. I’m gonna take off then. Call me if you kids need anything. And seriously, buy food!” Jack said, grabbing his keys out of his pocket. Rhys watched as he walked down to the parking lot, Angel accompanying him to the stairs. When she came back in, she flopped down on the couch exaggeratedly. 

“So you still up for going to the bar? I know that was the plan, but seriously if you’re too tired,” Rhys said, only to be cut off by Angel.

“No, I’m fine. Seriously, I could use a drink.”

“Ok, well-” Rhys looked at his phone noting the time- “I’ll just text them to meet us there and we can go.”

“Sounds good.”

***

“Rhys! Angel!” Vaughn yells, waving the two over. Sasha and Fiona were already there as well, and the pair walked over to the them, August nodding a greeting at them from behind the bar. “Hey, so congrats on moving in, Angel!” 

“Yeah, she’s gonna regret it in a few weeks after living with you three,” Sasha snorted. Angel laughed.

“You sound like my dad.”

“Oh, yeah. How was that by the way? Sorry we couldn’t help out earlier.” Vaughn said.

“It went okay. There wasn’t much stuff left to bring, and Rhys was there so it went alright. Plus we got our textbooks, so that’s one less thing for me to worry about,” she answered. 

“Aww dude, I totally still have to do that,” Vaughn groaned as he lay his head down on their table. Angel chuckled at him.

“Don’t worry. You know you almost never use them the first week anyway,” she said. “I just got mine since one of my professors specifically wanted us to have it tomorrow, plus my dad was here and he was paying for them,” she added. 

“Ugh, I just can’t believe that school starts tomorrow,” Fiona grumbled, taking another sip of her drink. “Summer break was way too short,” she muttered as everyone around her nodded in agreement. 

“To the last day of break,” Vaughn solemnly toasted, raising his glass in the air. The others raised their own, clinking them together. 


	2. Grocery Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack swings by the apartment as Rhys is headed out to do some grocery shopping and decides to go along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still alive after the first day of classes! Though I feel Rhys's pain, going over class syllabuses is so boring, but I guess better than being stressed about a bunch of different essays/projects.

Rhys woke up to the alarm blaring on his phone. He fumbled for it blindly, managing to knock it off the table next to him in his attempt to shut if off. He swore as he got out of bed, picking up the phone to silence the alarm. Squinting at the bright rectangle of light, he sighed as he realized how early it was.

“Why did I sign up for that morning class?” he muttered as he walked out of his room to take a shower.

“Because you’re a dumbass.” Fiona answered from the kitchen. He glared at her, but decided to give her a charming smile once he realized that she was cooking. Fiona seemed to notice the change of expression as she smirked. “Sorry, this omelet is all mine,” she added as she began to eat it. Rhys frowned at her, but she simply raised an eyebrow at him. “These are the last of the eggs, you snooze you lose Rhys.” 

“I hardly think waking up at 7:00 in the morning is snoozing, but whatever,” Rhys answered. “Why are you up so early anyway?” he asked, knowing she didn’t have any morning classes. 

“Work,” she replied through a mouthful of food. Rhys gave her a disgusted look.

“Could you maybe finish eating before you talk?” he frowned at her, while she stuck her tongue out at him. He threw his hands up in the air, walking back towards the bathroom for his original plan of a shower. Sighing in relief as he found it empty, he quickly washed himself and got dressed. Once he was finished styling his hair, he grabbed his bag and headed out the door. At least he only had a couple classes today.

***

Rhys got back to the apartment, tired after his classes. He could only take so many hours of professors going over their syllabuses in one day, and he just wanted to go home and lay down. His stomach grumbled as he got to the apartment complex and he realized that he hadn’t really eaten yet. 

Rhys went straight to the small kitchen to find something to eat, but groaned as he opened the fridge to find it empty. The plan was to wait for someone to get home today to go grocery shopping with, but he knew that Vaughn and Angel were in class until later and Fiona had class after her shift. He pulled out a packet of instant noodles, the sight alone enough to make him slightly nauseous. Rhys decided that he couldn’t eat another bite of ramen, and that he needed to buy some actual food. He grabbed his wallet, sighing as he looked inside. He hadn’t gotten paid yet, but it would have to do. Locking the door behind him, he began to walk down the stairs to his apartment, a flash of bright yellow catching his attention out of the corner of his eye. He looked over towards it and realized it was Jack’s car.

“Hey, Rhysie,” Jack grinned coming to meet Rhys at the bottom of the stairs. Rhys gave a confused look towards the older man. 

“Hey Jack, Angel isn’t back yet. I think she’s still in class,” Rhys said, assuming the man was here to see his daughter. Jack shrugged.

“Well I was going to see if she wanted to grab lunch, but I’ll catch her later,” he answered. Jack looked over at Rhys, raising an eyebrow at the younger man. “So, what’re you up to? You off to class?” Jack asked.

“Uhh, no. I was actually going to go grocery shopping,” he replied. Instead of the judgement Rhys expected however, Jack simply answered with a nod. 

“Hop in my car I can give you a ride,” Jack offered, as Rhys stared at the man suspiciously. It wasn’t like he was a total stranger, but Rhys didn’t exactly know the other man very well either. He shrugged, figuring that it was better than walking. As they started driving, Rhys noticed that they were in a part of the city that he hadn’t really been in before.

“Where are we going Jack?” Rhys asked, taking in the large houses lining the streets. Jack gave him an unimpressed stare.

“The grocery store?” Jack deadpanned as he pulled into the parking lot. Rhys looked up, his eyes widening as he read the words, ‘Whole Foods’ on the building. 

“Jack, this place is way too expensive,” Rhys stated, remembering the current lack of funds burning a hole in his pocket. Jack rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, for you maybe,” he snorted. 

“That’s what I meant,” Rhys replied as he glared at the other man. “I can’t afford to buy our groceries here.”

“Then it’s a good thing you don’t have to.” Jack grinned. Rhys opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, unsure what to say. He wasn’t sure why Jack kept insisting on buying things for him, except that maybe he figured that Angel would also be using the groceries. Jack started walking towards the door, and Rhys followed him in. Jack seemed to notice the frown on Rhys’s face as he added, “Don’t worry about it kiddo, I just closed a multi-million dollar deal today, I’m sure I can afford a few groceries.”

Rhys nearly choked at the statement. He’d never in his life possessed, or even seen that much money, but Jack just casually threw statements around like that as if millions of dollars weren’t anything to him. Though, judging from Jack’s car, it probably wasn’t. 

Rhys followed Jack around the store as the older man started throwing random items into the cart. He would occasionally ask Rhys what he wanted, to which Rhys would pull out a short list he had made. He felt out of place in the expensive grocery store, and stopped to look at items that he hadn’t even been aware existed before. Jack would watch him, and then proceed to grab whatever it was Rhys had been looking at when he thought Rhys wasn’t looking. At the bakery section, Rhys’s eyes widened at the assortment of different cakes and tarts that lined the shelves. He could feel Jack’s eyes on him as he leaned towards the glass cases that held the desserts. He watched as Jack caught the attention of an employee and pointed at the cupcake that Rhys had been eyeing. 

“Yeah, I’ll take that one,” he stated as Rhys tried to protest, but Jack ignored him. “Here kiddo, you looked about ready to die of starvation while looking at that cupcake.” 

Rhys took it, taking a bite while Jack was paying the cashier for the groceries. It was the best, and likely most expensive, cupcake he’d ever tasted. He practically devoured the thing while Jack grinned at him. “Thanks Jack. You really didn’t have to,” Rhys said, though secretly extremely happy that he had. That cupcake had pretty much been the only thing he’d eaten that day.

“Jesus Rhysie, from the way you devoured that cupcake, it was like you haven’t eaten anything all day,” Jack smirked, but his face dropped when Rhys blushed in embarrassment. 

“I, uh, haven’t really. That’s kind of why I decided to go grocery shopping,” Rhys admitted. Jack gave him a look that read, ‘you’re a dumbass’.

“Then I’m taking you to lunch kiddo,” Jack announced as he began loading groceries into the car. Rhys gaped at him. Buying him a snack was one thing, but lunch? That sounded kind of like...a date?

 

***

Rhys looked around the expensive restaurant, and then back to the menu in front of him. He wasn’t sure what he was doing there, much less what he should order. Jack raised an eyebrow, looking over his own menu at Rhys. The blush on Rhys’s cheeks as he caught Jack staring, caused a smirk to appear on Jack’s face.

“See something you like?” Jack grinned as the server came back to take their order.

“Uh yeah actually, this looks pretty good,” Rhys answered, pointing at the menu. The server wrote down his order while Jack frowned down across the table at Rhys. Rhys gave an unsure look back, but was too busy eating once the food came to worry about what was up with Jack. 

“So, Angel tells me you want to work for Hyperion,” Jack said, picking up his glass to take a drink. Rhys paused, the fork in his hand halfway to his mouth, as he remembered just exactly who Angel’s father was. He gulped, placing the fork back down on the plate. This was the Hyperion CEO, not just his roommate’s hot dad who was currently buying him lunch. Wait, this wasn’t like a date was it? Rhys’s eyes widened slightly at the thought. 

“Um, yeah,” Rhys answered, trying to push that thought into the back of his mind. “It’s always kind of been my dream to work at Hyperion.” 

Jack grinned at this, leaning over the table slightly. “Well, you know who you’re talking to right kid? I could literally make that happen with the snap of my fingers.” Jack seemed to pause at this, as if thinking. “Well, maybe not a job yet...but we usually hire a few interns in the spring.” 

Rhys stared at him, unsure what to say. “Wait, seriously?” 

“Sure. I’ve seen your grades cupcake. You could do great things at Hyperion,” Jack replied, as if offering basically everything Rhys had ever wanted was no big deal. Rhys didn’t even question how Jack had gotten a hold of his grades. He was too excited to care. 

“R-really? I mean that would be amazing!” Rhys said, ecstatic at even the possibility of securing one of the Hyperion internship positions. Jack smiled at Rhys’s reaction.

“Oh, hey. Give me your phone and I’ll put in my number. That way I can contact you later with the details for the internship program,” Jack said, holding his hand out. Rhys gave him his phone, waiting as Jack entered his contact info and sent a message to himself so he had Rhys’s. Once Rhys received his phone back, he looked down at his phone. Jack had saved his number under the name ‘Handsome Jack’. Of course the CEO would use the famous nickname given to him, though now that Rhys thought about it, he wasn’t exactly sure who had given it to the man.

Rhys looked up at the older man, who was grinning at him from across the table. Rhys rolled his eyes at the name, slipping the phone back into his pocket.

***

The ride back to his apartment had been mostly uneventful. Rhys couldn’t really see much over the grocery bag that was currently seated on his lap. Jack had bought a ridiculous amount of groceries, and they hadn’t all fit in the trunk. Once at the apartment complex, he saw Jack grab the rest of the groceries from the car.

“Aren’t some of those yours?” Rhys asked, looking at the man in confusion.

“Nope. These are all yours kiddo,” Jack replied. “Well, yours, Angel, and the rest of whoever lives here.” 

Rhys blinked at him in surprise, but didn’t say anything. He really shouldn’t be surprised. Jack had said that he was buying them groceries, but Rhys had just assumed the man was doing his own grocery shopping too. He watched as Jack managed to juggle the remaining four bags, and the two climbed the stairs to the apartment. Rhys opened the door to the apartment, dropping the bags on the counter. 

“Oh hey Rhys, did you go grocery shopping?” Vaughn said, popping up from his position on the couch. His eyes widened as he saw who was behind him. “H-handsome Jack?” he squeaked, using the infamous moniker for the Hyperion CEO. Jack gave him a weird look, placing the bags he was carrying onto the counter near Rhys’s. Vaughn remained deathly quiet as Jack walked over to him, inspecting the shorter man. 

“Who’re you?” Jack said, leaning over Vaughn with narrowed eyes. Vaughn shrunk away, attempting to sink further into the couch he was sitting on. Rhys looked between the two uncertainly.

“Uhh. Vaughn this is Jack,” Rhys introduced, coughing slightly. “Um, Angel’s dad,” he added. “And Jack, this is Vaughn. He’s one of my roommates.” 

Vaughn’s eyes were practically circles behind his glasses, as he stared at the two. Jack now had his hands on his hips, one eyebrow cocked as he looked at Rhys. Rhys ignored him, and began trying to put all the groceries away. 

“Jack,” Rhys sighed as he looked at all the groceries now littering the small kitchen. “This is way too much food.” 

Jack looked at the kitchen area, frowning at the open fridge where Rhys was attempting to move things around to make more space. 

“You just need a bigger fridge,” Jack observed. Rhys turned around to frown at him, no doubt in his mind that the other man would not hesitate to purchase a new fridge for the apartment. There seemed to be a pattern in which Jack simply threw money at a problem in order to solve it. And Jack had a lot of money. 

Rhys had just started to try cramming the first bit of groceries into the fridge when he heard the front door open. 

“Do I want to know what is happening?” Angel asked, looking at all the food laid out on the counter. “Wait, dad what are you doing here?” she asked, once she caught sight of Jack in the kitchen. Jack was currently holding several different food items for Rhys as he strategically placed them into the fridge. Rhys turned at the sound of her voice, noticing how Jack had opened one of the chip bags that Rhys had left out on the counter due to lack of pantry space. 

“Seriously?” Rhys asked, as the older man shrugged. 

“I was hungry cupcake,” he replied before turning to Angel. “Angel, sweetheart,” he greeted, placing the items he was holding onto the counter. “I wanted to know if you wanted to grab lunch,” Jack said, pausing to realize what time it was. “Or dinner or whatever.” 

“Ok, dinner sounds good,” Angel answered still unsure about what was going on. “But, where did all this food come from?” Angel asked  as she took in the state of their small kitchen. Jack looked around, as if noticing for the first time just how much food was currently spread around the kitchen.

“Rhysie and I went grocery shopping.” He shrugged, as if randomly going grocery shopping with your daughter’s roommate was the most normal thing in the world. Angel raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but didn’t press the matter. Instead, she rolled her eyes and went to drop her backpack on the couch near Vaughn, who had been just silently observing the entire time. She grabbed her bag and started heading towards the door, Jack following behind her.

“Later, pumpkin. If you need anything, text me.” Jack winked at Rhys, before he followed Angel out of the apartment. Rhys blushed at that, the knowledge that he had Jack’s number currently causing his phone to feel like it was burning a hole in his pocket. As the door closed, Rhys turned to finish putting away the groceries and caught Vaughn staring at him.

“Dude,” Vaughn stated, giving him a disapproving look. The blush on Rhys’s cheeks grew hotter at that.

“Don’t judge me,” Rhys sighed, knowing his request was in vain. Vaughn just raised an eyebrow, silently turning back towards the TV while Rhys buried his face in his hands. This was bad. Despite what Vaughn probably thought, he was not crushing on Jack. He could not be crushing on not only the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, but also his roommate’s father. Nope. It was just a little hero admiration. Really.


	3. You Like Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys tries to confide his suspicions to Fiona, which leads him to some alarming realizations and is stuck with probably the worst labmate possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually the chapter that kind of started it all, since it was based off that story. Enjoy!

“Hey, I think that Angel’s dad is maybe into me?” Rhys started off, turning to Fiona who was eating her lunch across from him.  She seemed to pause at this.

It had been almost an entire month since the semester had started and Angel had moved in. During that time Rhys had seen an awful lot of Jack, more than he thought it normal to see your fully grown roommate’s father.

“No offense to you, but what makes you think that?” she asked. Rhys glared at her, briefly flipping her off while she stuck her tongue out at him. He returned his expression to a more serious one. He’d been waiting to talk to her for the whole day, as the issue had been weighing on him for the past week. Ever since Jack had helped Angel move in, he’d been dropping by the apartment every few days. Not that it bothered Rhys, on the contrary, he found the older man to be somewhat charming and entertaining. 

“Well, he bought my textbooks. I wouldn’t let him pay for all of them because I felt weird, but he paid for most of them.” Rhys answered.

“Really? Damn, I wish he’d pay for mine. The guy is a CEO Rhys. He’s clearly got money to burn, maybe he was just trying to be friendly to Angel’s new roommates and you happened to be there,” she suggested with a shrug. Rhys frowned in response.

“Maybe, but he keeps dropping by. Even when Angel’s not around. We went to lunch the other day. And you know he bought like most of the groceries in our apartment, right?”

“Wait, seriously? How have I not managed to see this guy?” Fiona said. She grinned, “Is he hot?” 

“I mean, yeah? Kind of,” Rhys answered, his hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously. 

“Oh my god, seriously?” she laughed. “Wait, this isn’t like a creepy thing is it?” she asked. Fiona’s face went more serious as Rhys looked taken aback.

“No, it’s not. He seems pretty cool. Like, he basically runs all of Hyperion and he’s paying for Angel to go to school. The one time he bought me lunch he talked about possibly helping me get an internship at Hyperion. I mean, I can’t believe that he actually worked his way up from being a programmer to being the CEO,” Rhys gushed, as Fiona’s eyes widened slightly. 

“Oh, my god. You like him!” she smirked. 

“No, it’s not like that. Fiona I don-” Rhys started as he saw Fiona go for her phone. “Fiona!” he yelled, diving at her phone. 

“You totally like him.” She smiled, evading him as she sent a text. Rhys’s eyes widened.

“Who did you send that to?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Fiona laughed, taking in Rhys’s horrified expression. He prayed that it was at least Vaughn. While Vaughn probably wouldn’t be too happy about it (Jack scared him) he’d at least be slightly less judgemental than Fiona and Sasha. A feeling of panic ran through him as he realized who else Fiona could have texted. What if she texted Angel? How would that go down? Oh yeah, it’s cool it’s just that I’m maybe kinda sorta attracted to your dad, no big deal. Yeah, that would not go down well. Fiona continued to laugh as she walked away, leaving Rhys to walk to his next class alone. He really hoped she hadn’t texted Angel.

***

Rhys turned the key, opening the apartment door and immediately flopped down onto the couch in exhaustion. His class had been hell, stuck with some idiot for a partner during lab. The man had actually started the experiment without reading any of the directions, and had somehow managed to not only break a good amount of their lab equipment, but also catch the hot plate on fire. Which, may not have actually been his fault since there had been some kind of faulty wire, but Rhys was blaming him anyway. The man had then proceeded to stare at it with wide eyes, effectively useless, as Rhys had grabbed the fire extinguisher. The smoke though, had still set off the fire alarm and the entire building had to be evacuated. 

Rhys, unlike many of the others, hadn’t been able to grab his bag since he’d been too busy actually trying to douse the fire, and had been forced to wait outside until the fire department gave the all clear. Thankfully, it had been his last class of the day, but he’d still had to wait for almost an hour after his class usually let out in order to retrieve his stuff. Now, all he wanted to do was lay down, and maybe eat something. 

“Uggghhh.” Rhys groaned as he lay face first on the couch. He heard a light laugh from somewhere in front of him and raised his head slightly to look at whoever it was. Angel was seated at the far end of the couch, her laptop opened in front of her and headphones winding their way down to her computer. Rhys hadn’t even noticed that she was on the couch, but now gave her a pout as she continued to laugh at him. She seemed to be acting pretty naturally, so he didn’t think Fiona had texted her, which was a relief. He had enough things to worry about today without having to worry about Angel knowing about his  _ slight _ crush on her father. Angel’s nose wrinkled up as she took in a breath, her face scrunching up in confusion.

“Why do you smell like smoke?” 

Rhys looked down at himself, attempting to smell his own clothes and sighed as he realized she was right. 

“My stupid labmate practically caught the building on fire,” he exaggerated as he laid back down, realizing he’d have to take a shower before work. Angel’s eyes widened in alarm at that.

“A fire? Rhys are you alright?” she asked. Rhys snorted at her response, but was touched by her concern. Besides Vaughn, she was probably the only one of his friends that would outwardly show such worry. He knew Sasha and Fiona cared, but they would always attempt to play it off as if they didn’t. Angel’s genuine interest in his well-being felt nice. He opened his mouth to respond to her when he heard some kind of loud noise come from Angel’s computer and saw her wince at the sound. He gave her a curious look as she seemed to ignore it.

“I’m fine. It wasn’t really the whole building. Just the lab table mostly. Idiot stood there without saying anything, and by the time I got it mostly out, the fire alarm had gone off,” Rhys answered, pulling himself into a sitting position on the couch. “Honestly, now I’m just more hungry than anything. Kind of wish I could order pizza, but I don’t get paid until next week.” Rhys stretched, standing up from the couch. “Anyway, I’m gonna take a shower, try to get the smoke smell out of my hair before work,” he replied, heading towards the bathroom. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw her glare at her computer, but shrugged it off figuring she was working on some stubborn assignment. 

After getting out of the shower, Rhys walked back out into their shared living space. He figured he’d grab something quick to eat and maybe watch some mindless TV before he had to start his shift later. Just as his hand touched the fridge door to open it, someone rang the doorbell. He frowned, not knowing who it could be, but went to answer it when Angel asked if he could get it. He opened the door, a man in a pizza delivery outfit standing there, while Rhys stared at him in confusion.

“You Rhys?” the guy asked, shaking Rhys out of his own thoughts. Had Angel ordered pizza? But if so, why would she put it under his name?

“Yeah, but I didn’t order any pizza…” Rhys trailed off, uncertain still of what was happening. The delivery guy looked unfazed by his reaction and simply handed him the two pizzas and what appeared to be breadsticks. Rhys took it, which prompted him into the action of pulling out his wallet. He didn’t know what was happening, but he was fairly certain the man expected to be paid. 

“It’s already been paid for,” the man stated, leaving Rhys even more confused than he already was. 

After the guy had left, Rhys closed the front door, bringing the pizzas into the small kitchen. He placed them onto the counter, hearing Angel walk towards him from her room. She caught sight of the pizzas and the somewhat uncertain look on Rhys’s face and sighed. 

“I can’t believe he actually did it,” she muttered, though added, “I’m not going to turn down free pizza though.” 

Rhys stared at her as she opened up one of the boxes, the smell of pizza wafting over to him. He could see what looked like pepperoni and sausage as Angel grabbed a slice.God, he was so hungry. He still didn’t know where the pizzas had come from, though Angel seemed to have a fairly good idea. 

“Who bought the pizza?” Rhys asked. “The guy told me they were already paid for.” 

“My dad sent them over,” she replied. Rhys stood there blinking in surprise as she began to take out a slice and eat it. 

“Oh.” Rhys willed the blush he could feel starting, to go away. He didn’t need to be thinking about his earlier conversation with Fiona right now. “It’s funny how I just said I wanted pizza.” Rhys laughed, but stopped at the look Angel was giving him. It was a mix of disbelief and curiosity, and Rhys began to feel like he was missing something. “What?” 

Angel rolled her eyes at him. “My dad was on skype earlier, when you came in. I’m pretty sure he heard you.” 

Rhys’s eyes widened in realization, and his mouth dropped into a small ‘o’ shape. He frowned, remembering the noise from Angel’s laptop earlier. A buzz from his phone interrupted his thoughts, and he pulled it out to look at it. 

**Handsome Jack:** “Enjoy kiddo. Hope you like lots of meat and sausage ;)” 

Rhys blushed at the text, unsure if Jack had actually meant the innuendo or not (the winky face at the end was not helping). He sent a quick ‘thanks for the pizza’, deciding to ignore the possible double meaning behind Jack’s text. As he put his phone back in his pocket, he could still feel the heat in his cheeks. His mind wandered back to Fiona’s earlier words, and he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He didn’t really like Jack...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha well, I've never had a lab partner that bad, poor Rhys. Though my lab group did cause a test tube to explode once. And oh Rhys, don't deny it.


	4. Guest Lecturer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys knows that his professor doesn't exactly like him, but that doesn't stop him from being completely shocked when the man basically attempts to fail him on purpose. Luckily, Jack finds out about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a longer than normal chapter to make up for not updating for awhile. College has been kinda crazy, but I love writing these two and hope you guys enjoy it!

Rhys sighed as he propped his head up with his hand. He felt his head start to slip down as his eyes began to close. He jerked up, shaking his head as he tried to stay awake. His eyelids felt heavy as he felt somebody prodding his arm.

“Rhys!” The professor yelled as Rhys jumped awake. Vasquez, his professor, was glaring at him. He’d stopped whatever he’d been talking about, and was currently walking toward him. Rhys gulped as Vasquez stalked closer, feeling the eyes of the rest of the students on him. “I’m sorry, is my lecture boring you?” Vasquez growled, as Rhys attempted to shrink down into his seat. Rhys attempted to maintain eye contact as his professor leaned closer to him, grimacing at the overpowering scent of his cologne. He hated Vasquez, ever since the first day of class where the man had berated him after Rhys had corrected something he’d put on the board. Now, the professor seemed to constantly have it out for him, and took every opportunity he could get to humiliate Rhys. If Rhys didn’t need the class, he would have dropped it by now, and unfortunately, Vasquez was the only professor on campus who taught it so he couldn’t even switch to a different section. 

Vasquez was staring down at him, anger rolling off of him as he dismissed the class. Rhys’s eyes widened at that, knowing that class lasted for at least a half hour more. He was relieved however, and started to get up until Vasquez pinned him in place with an angry glare. 

“Not you Rhys,” he said through gritted teeth. Angel, who had been sitting next to him, paused at the command. She looked at Rhys, unsure if she should leave him alone or not. Rhys gave a small nod, letting her know he was ok. He swallowed hard as she left, and turned back towards his professor. “Rhys, I’d like to talk to you about your grade,” he sneered, walking back to his desk. Rhys frowned, he knew he was one of the better students in the class. No matter how much Vasquez hated him, he couldn’t deny how well Rhys performed on each exam and assignment.

Vasquez stood by his desk, the stack of papers consisting of the essays everyone had turned in earlier, sitting on his desk. He seemed to be absentmindedly flipping through the stack, until he stopped on one paper in particular. Pulling it out slowly, he held it in front of him as if taunting Rhys, who had stopped in front of the desk.

“Rhys...do you know what this is?” he asked, giving an unimpressed look towards the paper in his hand. Rhys, who had a pretty good idea that the paper was his, was still unsure what was happening. There was no way that Vasquez had managed to read and grade his paper in the five or so minutes that he had before class started. Rhys furrowed his brow, answering Vasquez.

“My essay.” 

“Incorrect Rhys. I honestly expected better, but I guess that’s my mistake. Still, it’s surprising that you just didn’t care enough to turn in the essay that’s worth 25% of your grade,” Vasquez sneered, tearing the essay in half. He then proceeded to shove it into the shredder, while Rhys stood there in shock. He couldn’t believe what was happening.

“You can’t do that! I can report you...or lodge a complaint against you!” Rhys shouted, unable to believe that Vasquez had actually just ripped up his paper in front of him. Vasquez just laughed. 

“Go ahead. No one will believe you,” he grinned, a dark look in his eyes. Rhys glared at him, silent. He knew Vasquez was right. Almost no one would believe that his professor had simply shredded his paper and claimed that Rhys had never turned it in. He grit his teeth, biting any response that he wanted to make and stormed out of the classroom. 

Rhys caught sight of Angel, waiting in the hallway for him as he left the classroom. She got one look at him, and her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Well, that’s it! I’m screwed!” Rhys yelled as he made his way over to her.

“What happened? Why did he want to talk to you?” Angel asked.

“ _ Assquez _ just shredded my essay, and claims that I never turned it in!” He answered, still fuming at the incident. Angel’s eyes widened in surprise. It didn’t take a genius to tell how much Vasquez disliked Rhys, but to think that a professor would actually do that to a student’s paper was unbelievable. 

“What are you going to do?” She asked, aware that the paper was worth a fourth of their grade. Rhys sighed, and his look of anger turned into one of defeat. Vasquez had been right about no one believing him. He was just a student, one who had been seen to disagree with Vasquez openly before. People would think that he was just angry about his grade, and dismiss him as a disgruntled student. Vasquez wasn’t exactly the most well-liked professor, but Rhys knew that as a professor, his word would be taken into more consideration than some college student’s. He frowned, thinking about what he could do to take him down. Hack into his computer maybe? He must have something on it that could be used as blackmail material. Except that Vasquez never let his laptop out of his sight. 

“I don’t know. Report him I guess?” Rhys answered. He sighed, “But it’s not like I really have proof that he did it. It’s my word against his.” 

“We’ll find a way to get back at him for this,” Angel said, confidence in her voice as she tried to reassure him. “I’ll testify about his behavior towards you if it’ll help.” 

“Thanks. Honestly right now, I just want to get back and go to sleep,” Rhys answered. He was grateful that she cared, but his anger was fading and quickly being replaced by fatigue as the situation set in. He needed this class to graduate and his GPA really couldn’t take the hit of a low grade in this class. He was going to fail. This was it. He was going to fail  _ Assquez’s  _ class, be unable to graduate, and eventually just flunk out of college altogether. He’s going to end up working at some minimum wage job for the rest of his life, unable to afford to live anywhere without three other roommates. This was his life now.

***

Rhys lay on the couch, his hoodie covering his mess of hair, since he hadn’t actually bothered to shower that day. It had been almost a week since Vasquez shredded his paper, and each day had gotten progressively worse. The more he thought about his grade, the more hopeless it seemed. He had turned in a complaint about Vasquez, but he hadn’t heard anything back and doubted he ever would. 

Rhys shifted on the couch, turning slightly so he could stare at the TV. He didn’t even know what was on, but it served as background noise to the otherwise empty apartment. Everyone was either at work or class, but Rhys hadn’t been able to drag himself to either. He’d woken up too late for his class and had called in sick to work as well. He felt his phone vibrate, but he ignored it. 

Rhys’s roommates had become concerned around the third day of him not attending class. After Angel had explained what happened, Fiona and Vaughn had become angry on Rhys’s behalf. 

“I can’t believe that son of a bitch!” Fiona had shouted. Vaughn had tried to comfort Rhys, telling him that they would think of something. Rhys had been grateful, but no one had a solid plan of what he could do. As the days went by, he’d just been losing more and more hope that he’d ever be able to get back at his professor. He’d managed to drag himself to class and work a few times this past week, but he just hadn’t been able to wake up to his alarm today.

He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position as he heard a knock at the door. He was tempted to just ignore it, but the longer he took the more insistent the knocking got. He walked over to the door, opening it without bothering to check who it was. Jack stood with his hand raised, ready to knock again as Rhys stood there in surprise. 

“So you are alive,” Jack said, slight annoyance in his tone. He frowned as he took in Rhys’s current state, noticing his unkempt hair and the fact that he was wearing pajamas in the middle of the day. He raised an eyebrow at the younger man as if asking for an explanation, but Rhys ignored it. 

“Are you looking for Angel? She’s not here,” Rhys stated, unsure why the other man never seemed to bother to ask Angel if she was home before dropping by. Jack gave him a strange look in response. 

“You look like shit kiddo,” Jack observed. Rhys frowned at him. He didn’t need Jack to tell him that. He knew what he probably looked like, but he just hadn’t had the energy to do anything about it for the past few days. Even getting out of bed this morning had been a struggle. Rhys wasn’t even sure why it mattered to Jack. He’d already told the older man that Angel wasn’t home. 

“Yeah well, I’ve had a lot on my mind for the past few days. What with me about to fail my class and all,” Rhys responded bitterly. He wasn’t sure if he was going to fail the class, but he certainly wasn’t going to be able to do well in it. With the way Vasquez was acting though, he might just “lose” a few more of Rhys’s assignments and tests to make sure that he couldn’t pass. “Anyway, I’m really tired…” Rhys trailed off, hoping the man would get the hint and leave. It’s not that he minded having Jack around, but he wasn’t in the mood for company right now. He honestly just wanted to go back to bed or maybe just watch some more TV, anything to keep his mind off of his paper. Every time he thought of it his breathing would accelerate and he’d start to envision himself not graduating with the rest of his friends, doomed to some dead-end job somewhere. Even the numbness he currently felt was better than that, so he tried not to think about it too hard. 

Jack just looked somewhat stunned, at a loss for words for once. “Uh, just let Angel know I stopped by,” he added as an afterthought. Rhys nodded, watching him pull out his phone as he closed the door on Jack. As soon as the door was closed, Rhys went back to laying on the couch. He thought about making himself lunch, but ultimately decided that it would be too much effort to get up and actually make something. He settled on eating a poptart that he’d bought at the campus store on an impulse buy a couple days ago. 

He pulled his phone out as he sat back down on the couch, noticing the several missed texts from his friends. There was even a few texts from Jack. He wrinkled his brow at that. Jack had been texting him?

**Handsome Jack:** “Just fired the most incompetent scientist I have ever seen. Still kinda on a high from it. Wanna grab lunch at this new restaurant downtown? My treat ;)”

**Handsome Jack:** “Rhhyyyssss”

**Handsome Jack:** “Are you ignoring me Rhysie?” 

Rhys looked at the third message. Jack’s initial reaction when Rhys had opened the door suddenly made much more sense. And had Jack just asked him out again? Not that it was a date, the man probably just wanted someone to gloat to about firing somebody. Still, he felt his cheeks start to heat up at the thought. Rhys decided to bench that conversation for later and looked at the next message.

**Angel:** “You can’t avoid going to class forever Rhys. If you stop going then Vasquez wins.”

Rhys looked at the text, knowing she was right. As of right now, his grade may be suffering, but he could still pass..barely. If he stopped going altogether, Vasquez would fail him and then Rhys would have to suffer through another semester with the man. He sighed, as he looked at the time. He had just enough time for a quick shower before heading off to class.

Rhys managed to slide into class with five minutes to spare. Vasquez was nowhere to be seen, which wasn’t unusual and he could see the relieved look on Angel’s face as she saw Rhys walk in. Not that his current state was much better than it had been for the past week. He had just thrown the same hoodie on over a t-shirt that he wasn’t even sure was entirely clean, and had the same jeans on as yesterday. Still, he had showered and he was in class, so that was an improvement in of itself.

Rhys took his usual seat next to Angel, who smiled at him. He returned the smile, placing his bag down as he heard Vasquez walk in. 

“Oh my god,” Angel said, her voice filled with surprise and horror. Rhys looked up to see what had caused such a reaction, and his mouth dropped open as he caught sight of Jack walking in behind Vasquez.

“Rhys. Nice of you to finally join us,” Vasquez sneered upon seeing Rhys. Rhys tried to sink further down into his seat, not even sure who he was trying to hide from more, Jack or Vasquez. Rhys looked up to see Jack eyeing him before he turned his gaze to Vasquez. Rhys watched as Jack’s eyes narrowed upon looking at Vasquez, before a charming smile overtook it. Vasquez smiled back at the man, before turning to address the class. “We have a very important guest here today. This here is the CEO of Hyperion. We go way back, Jack and I.” Excited whispers filled the class as Vasquez introduced Jack. Almost everyone in the room wanted to work for Hyperion one day. They were the biggest tech development company in the area, possibly the nation. Rhys could tell that Jack’s smile wasn’t genuine, indicating that he wasn’t as close to Vasquez as the man would like everyone to believe. 

“I was in the area, so I just thought I’d drop by. Share some knowledge with you kiddos,” Jack said, a grin spreading across his face. “Speaking of sharing some knowledge, did you know that this guy used to work for me?” 

Rhys scrunched up his face at that. Vasquez never gave up an opportunity to talk about how he used to work at Hyperion. He would go on and on about how they were lucky to have a professor like him, who had actually worked there. Rhys had always wondered why he’d left the job in the first place, since he seemed to talk about it so much. Surely he got paid better at Hyperion?

“Yeah, I remember when this guy here used to be down in the mailroom. Used to be bald too,” Jack continued as Vasquez’s smile grew increasingly smaller. Rhys watched the display with barely contained glee. He knew he shouldn’t be laughing at his professor’s embarrassment, but honestly Vasquez deserved it.

“Um, yes, that was before I got promoted though sir,” Vasquez coughed, trying to draw the conversation away. Jack paused at this, seemingly in thought as he looked at Vasquez.

“Yeah, and how long did you keep that job before I fired you? What was it, a month?” Jack asked, while a quiet laugh erupted from one of the other students.

“Eh, it doesn’t matter. What matters now is you’re a professor, molding the minds of my possible future employees,” Jack said, while Vasquez looked relieved to have gotten off of the topic of his previous employment. Rhys’s smile at Vasquez’s clear discomfort faded as he caught sight of Jack’s grin aimed at him. “Rhysie, I didn’t know you were in this class,” Jack added, his tone indicating the he had indeed known exactly which class Rhys was in. Rhys turned to Angel, seeing a bewildered expression on her face, but she didn’t say anything, probably not wanting to draw attention to herself. Rhys felt his face heat up in slight embarrassment, this being the second time in this class that all of his classmate’s eyes were on him. Jack had now turned back towards Vasquez, whose eyes were wide at realizing that Jack knew Rhys. “Did you know that Rhysie here is going to be one of my new interns?” Jack stated, causing Rhys’s mouth to drop. Jack hadn’t actually talked anymore about the internship at Hyperion, and Rhys had honestly thought the man had forgotten about it, but now he had just announced to the entire class that he had gotten one of the coveted Hyperion internship positions. He could feel the envious glares of his classmates, but was too happy to care at the moment. 

Rhys felt like he was floating through the rest of the class, which had gone relatively normally after the rocky start. Jack was a great public speaker, and the man was quite knowledgeable about the field of robotics. Rhys felt Jack’s eyes on him more than once, but whenever he looked up Jack’s attention was somewhere else. As Jack began to draw something on the board to demonstrate his latest point, he looked up at the clock.

“Alright kiddos, looks like we’re out of time. But if any of you feel like you have what it takes, I’d recommend applying for an internship at Hyperion. Maybe Rhys won’t be the only one of you to get a position,” Jack said, dismissing the class without even asking Vasquez for approval, but the other man didn’t protest. Rhys gathered up his things, turning to leave before Jack waved him over. Angel rolled her eyes at her father before starting to walk away.

“I’ll see you at home Rhys,” she said before leaving. Rhys nodded at her, then turned to go back to where Jack was currently leaning against Vasquez’s desk.

“Come here kiddo,” Jack said as Rhys made his way over to the pair. Jack turned his attention to Vasquez, “Now, I told you that Rhys here is my newest intern. And it would be a real shame if for some reason one of his assignments had gotten misplaced and he wasn’t able to take up his new position because of your class.” 

Rhys knew that the internship required applicants to maintain a certain college GPA, and with Rhys’s current grade in Vasquez’s class his would fall below the minimum requirements.

“Sir, even if it is a shame, I can’t pass a student if they’re failing the class,” Vasquez said, his tone making it clear that he didn’t actually think it a shame if Rhys failed the class. Rhys frowned about to say something, before Jack beat him to it.

“I know what you did. And I swear if I ever find out that something like that happens again, you’ll be lucky to be able to get a part-time job as a janitor somewhere,” Jack growled, his entire demeanor changing to much more threatening than he’d been a moment ago. Rhys’s eyes widened in surprise, not only because of the threat, but also how had Jack found out about Vasquez tearing up his paper?

Vasquez paled at the threat, nodding as he answered, “I-I’ll look into it. I’m sure I just uh, misplaced it somewhere.”

“Yeah, well you better find it. You do not want to have this conversation with me again,” Jack snarled, and Rhys would die before he admitted it, but Jack yelling at Vasquez was kind of hot. Jack took a deep breath, before running his hand in his hair and turning his attention back to Rhys, who had just been quietly standing there the whole time. “You hungry kiddo? I’m friggin’ starving.”

“Uh, I could eat,” Rhys answered, unsure what else to say.

“Good, I’m feeling like chinese food, you ever been to that one place downtown?” Jack asked casually, as if he hadn’t literally just threatened to ruin a man’s life.

“I haven’t, but chinese food sounds good,” Rhys replied, following the other man out. He threw a quick glance back at Vasquez, who was staring at the two in shock.

 

***

The place was surprisingly low-key for Jack, who seemed to have expensive taste in, well everything, but the food was amazing. Rhys hadn’t actually realized how hungry he’d been until he smelled the food. A vibration from his phone caused him to pull it out.

“He change your grade yet Rhysie?” Jack asked, as he shoveled another bite of fried rice into his mouth. 

“Yeah actually, I just got the email. He gave me a 100% on the essay,” Rhys said, reading over the email that alerted him to his grade change in the class.

“He should have given you extra credit for that mess he pulled,” Jack snorted and Rhys raised an eyebrow at the other man.

“How did you even know about that?” Rhys asked, frowning.

“Angel.” 

Rhys nodded, already guessing that it had been her. He wasn’t sure if he should thank her or not, seeing as Jack had practically called him out in front of his classmates. He was sure they’d be watching him curiously now, it wasn’t exactly normal for a CEO to personally call on his interns, especially one that hadn’t even started yet. But, Jack had also gotten Vasquez to give him a grade for his paper, so that was a huge relief off his shoulders.

“Thanks,” Rhys said quietly. He wasn’t quite sure why Jack had gone to the trouble of helping him, but he was glad. Jack gave him an indecipherable look, before turning his attention back to his food. 

The rest of the evening was spent with Jack telling Rhys about how incompetent his employees were. He told him some story about how an employee had accidentally blown up an expensive prototype, and then had tried to pass off an old one as the new one instead, laughing at his own story. Jack’s laughter elicited a grin out of Rhys before he realized what he was doing. God, he was in so much trouble.


	5. Black Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The shopping event of the year, Black Friday. And Rhys and his roommates are going to make sure that they don't miss out on the Black Friday deals. They have a plan, and have already mapped out groups and stores to hit. Of course, that plan goes out the window when Jack shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for how late this update is!! I just haven't had the time lately to sit down and edit this chapter, so I apologize! Hope you guys enjoy!

It had been over a month now since the whole mess with Vasquez, and Rhys still wasn’t sure where he stood with Jack. The man had basically threatened to get Vasquez fired for him and then had taken him out to dinner afterwards, but nothing had seemed to change between them. Which, what was Rhys expecting? This was his roommate’s father. Jack still dropped by occasionally, and bought them things for the apartment, which Fiona was thrilled about. Any money she didn’t have to spend was a plus to her, no matter where it came from. She still joked about Rhys’s crush, as did Sasha, the person she’d texted when she stole Rhys’s phone. The pair were relentless, but luckily hadn’t told either Vaughn or Angel. Rhys had a sneaking suspicion that Vaughn knew anyway, if the judgemental looks he got whenever Jack was around was any indication to go by. Rhys was especially convinced that Vaughn knew, when he’d approached Rhys one day in the apartment and told him that he supports him, even if he was making a stupid decision. He hadn’t named names, but Rhys knew he was talking about Jack. He just hoped that Angel didn’t know anything about his stupid crush. Rhys didn’t know how he would ever face her again if she did.

 

***

 

Rhys couldn’t believe how cold it was, as he and his friends stood in the line outside of the mall. Fiona, Sasha, and Rhys had always looked forward to Black Friday. The three were intent on finding the best deals, as with their limited funds this was really the only day that they went all-out shopping. Vaughn always accompanied the trio as well, but he didn’t share the intensity that the other three held for the day. Almost all of their future gifts and appliances were bought on Black Friday, and holiday gifts for each other hadn’t been a surprise since they all started going Black Friday shopping together. 

This year, however, their group had gotten slightly bigger. August was currently waiting in line with them, complaining about the cold, as he attempted to huddle under his blanket more. Sasha rolled her eyes at him, but gave him a light kiss knowing he was really only there for her. He had mentioned possibly getting some new cooking supplies for the bar, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have the money to buy them at any time. Unsurprisingly, running a bar next to a college made for lucrative business. Even if college students were broke, they always had money for alcohol.

Angel had also come with them this year, and she was practically bouncing with excitement. She had never been Black Friday shopping, not only because as being the daughter of a CEO she didn’t need to, but also because Jack would have never let her. Moving out had allowed her to be more independent, and when Rhys and Fiona had started pulling out ads to circle Black Friday deals, she had enthusiastically joined them.

“I can’t believe how freezing it is,” Fiona said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. Rhys nodded and pulled his blanket higher up his neck. He felt his phone vibrate and slowly pulled it out, a rush of cold air flooding in as he moved his hand outside of the blanket.He looked down at who had texted him, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion as he read the text from Jack. It read, ‘where are you in line?’ and Rhys looked up uncertainly, scanning the crowd. Rhys texted back a ‘why?’ to Jack, hitting send as a figure approached him. Jack was standing there, his phone in one hand and a tray of drinks in the other.

“Rude Rhysie. That’s not how you talk to someone who just brought you hot chocolate since it’s literally freezing out here. God is this what you people do for fun?” Jack said, placing the tray of drinks down. Rhys could feel his cheeks heating up as the rest of his friends watched the exchange.

All Rhys could say was, “You bought hot chocolate?”

“I can’t believe you’re here. I told you where I was going because you kept bothering me about being safe, but I didn’t know you’d actually join us,” Angel said, interrupting any reply Jack was going to make.

“Relax. I’ll still let you do your thing. I just thought you kids could use something hot to drink, and figured I’d get some early holiday shopping done.” Jack pointed at the tray of drinks, with the group wasting no time in grabbing one of the steaming hot cups. Jack grinned at the array of ‘oh my god thank yous’ and ‘you’re a lifesavers’ from them, while Angel frowned at him.

“Fine, but we already have set groups to hit all the major stores and you’re not coming with me.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll just borrow Rhysie here,” Jack grinned, as Rhys froze, his drink halfway to his lips. He could see the rest of his friends’ surprised faces, except for Angel who simply rolled her eyes.

Rhys and the rest of them finished up their drinks as the line started to move. He was still confused as to why exactly Jack was there, but as they started to make their way into the mall he found himself suddenly dragged away by Jack. Angel had gone off with Fiona and Vaughn, while August and Sasha had headed for the far side of the mall. 

“Hey Rhysie, wanna check out this place?” Jack asked, wiggling his eyebrows at Rhys while he jerked his thumb over toward what looked like the fanciest lingerie store that Rhys had ever seen. He gaped at Jack, not sure if the man was simply joking or not.

“You can’t be serious?” Rhys said, laughing nervously. 

“Aww come on cupcake, what’re you scared of?” Jack said, walking into the store. Rhys looked at him in slight horror, slowly following him into the store. “What do you think of these?” Jack asked, holding up a lacy pair of black underwear. Rhys honestly didn’t know why Jack was dragging him around a lingerie store of all thing. And he especially didn’t know why he was asking him for his opinion on lingerie.

“Nothing is even on sale in here,” Rhys said, avoiding answering Jack’s question. Jack simply shrugged and continued to pick up various items of clothing. He occasionally held them up, eyeing them and asking for Rhys’s opinion, who simply stated ‘they’re fine I guess’. He frowned, wondering if Jack had asked him to come along simply to get his opinion on lingerie for what? Jack’s girlfriend? His wife? Rhys knew that Angel’s mom had died when she was young, but that didn’t mean that the man didn’t have a girlfriend, or hadn’t gotten remarried. Jack walked up to the counter placing the items down on the counter to buy, as Rhys’s eyes widened at the exorbitant price.

“Wow.”

“Hey you gotta pay for quality babe,” Jack winked. Whoever the gifts were for must be pretty important for Jack to spend that kind of money on them. Not that the man was really hurting for cash. They finally exited the store, to Rhys’s relief, and the pair made their way to the large department store where the rest of their group was. Rhys spotted Fiona almost immediately and began to make his way over.

“Rhys!” Fiona yelled, standing next to a large box. She seemed to be guarding it against other people, glaring as they came too close. “Vaughn went to try and get his laptop, while Angel went to go look for a shopping cart,” she explained as Rhys and Jack walked closer. She raised an eyebrow at the very recognizable bag. “I see you two have been busy.”

Rhys blushed, ignoring her comment as he helped her pick up the TV box to move it a little farther away from the throng of people surrounding the rest of the TVs. Angel appeared a moment later with the cart, and they placed the TV in it. The group then made their way to the checkout, regrouping with Vaughn on the way. Rhys passed the game section, him and Vaughn looking enviously at the newest video game console. But with the TV, and Vaughn with his laptop, they didn’t exactly have extra cash to spend on video games. Jack followed their gaze, rolling his eyes.

“Just grab it dum dum.”

“What?” Rhys asked, as the rest of the group paused to watch. “I can’t let you buy that. It’s super expensive.”

“Do you even know who you’re talkin’ to kiddo?” Jack said, grabbing the box. “I swear Rhysie,” Jack muttered, while Rhys frowned at him. He didn’t know why Jack kept buying him things. Did the man just like to flash his money around that much? Or...maybe?.

Rhys watched as Jack pulled out his wallet, paying for everything that was in their cart, and sighed. Maybe Jack really did just like spending money.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Rhys...so oblivious. Hope you guys liked the chapter, just one more chapter after this one!


	6. It's a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys suspects that his and Jack's dinner is more than a friendly outing, but it couldn't be? Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this took so long for me to update! Classes have been crazy and also the new Mass Effect came out, so that was taking up a lot of my time. Here is the last chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it!!

“No, a little to the left,” Vaughn said as he stood back, eyeing the TV that Fiona and Rhys were currently holding. Fiona rolled her eyes at him.

“We just moved it to the right,” she grumbled, as she shifted it back. They had been trying to set up the new TV for the last hour or so, but Vaughn wanted it to look perfect while Fiona just wanted to watch something on it. Rhys honestly didn’t care too much, but he was getting tired of constantly holding it up near the wall.

“There, perfect,” Vaughn exclaimed as Angel marked on the wall where the rack to hold it would go. Fiona had just started screwing the rack to the wall, when Rhys felt his phone go off. He looked down at it to see a message from Jack, his face screwing up in slight confusion as he read it.

**Jack:** “dinner@7?”

**Rhys:** “Are you offering to buy dinner or asking to come to dinner? Because I don’t think we’re really making anything…”

Rhys stared at the phone screen, seeing Jack typing and could practically feel the sarcasm and eye roll that came with Jack’s response.

**Jack:** “Yes, I’m asking to come eat dinner with a bunch of people who literally only had top ramen before I bought groceries. No, you and me kiddo. I can pick you up?”

Wait, was Jack asking him on a...date? Rhys wasn’t sure what Jack meant, but it couldn’t be a date. It wasn’t like just the two of them hadn’t eaten together before, but it had been when it had happened to only be the two of them around. That wasn’t the case this time, but Rhys shrugged off his earlier thoughts, typing back an “ok, sounds good” before pocketing his phone to continue helping his roommates set up the TV.

 

***

 

At a little past seven, a knock on the door alerted Rhys to Jack’s arrival. He opened the door, going to grab his jacket while Jack waited in their hall. He half expected Jack to ask Angel, Fiona, and Vaughn to join them when he saw them in the living room, enjoying the new TV, but the man simply waved at Angel, going over to talk to her briefly.

“Ready to go kiddo?” Jack asked, coming back over to Rhys, who looked over at his friends unsure.

“Have fun!” Fiona laughed, as her and Angel erupted into a fit of giggles.

“Yeah, be safe you two,” Angel said, while Jack stuck his tongue out at her before exiting the apartment. Rhys gave the two strange looks, not entirely sure what they found so amusing, but followed Jack out of the apartment.

Rhys’s eyes widened at the restaurant that Jack had picked out, which was located in one of the expensive hotels downtown. It was somehow even fancier than the one that they’d gone to after the Whole Foods, and Rhys felt severely underdressed. Plus, this place seemed almost..romantic in its vibe? Rhys and Jack sat down, being seated almost immediately by a server. Perks of being one of the richest men around, Rhys guessed.

Rhys and Jack sat down, Jack already perusing the menu as Rhys started to look over his own. Their server came back as Rhys finally decided on his order.

“Sir, would you and your date care for something to drink?” the server asked. Rhys looked over at Jack at the server’s statement, but the other man didn’t seem fazed at all as he rattled off his drink and food order.

“I’ll uh, just take what he had,” Rhys said, as he realized that both Jack and the server were staring at him, waiting for his order. The server walked away and still Jack seemed unbothered by the fact that the server had referred to him as his date. Maybe Jack didn’t hear him? “Haha that server thinks we’re on a date,” Rhys laughed, trying to act nonchalant. Jack had been reaching for his phone, but stilled, looking at Rhys incredulously. His posture relaxed as he continued his previous action of grabbing his phone.

“Very funny Rhys,” Jack replied, his tone flat as he turned his attention back to his phone, glaring at some message on the screen. Rhys gaped at Jack. He had expected Jack to laugh at how ridiculous that would be, but instead the other man seemed almost disinterested. Maybe Jack just didn't really care what other people thought about him? At Rhys's continued silence Jack looked up from his phone, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized Rhys's expression. 

“You’re joking kiddo,” Jack said, but his tone betrayed that he already knew what Rhys’s response to that would be. “Jesus, I thought you were just playing hard to get.”

Rhys’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh my god,” Rhys said, staring at Jack. “Oh my god!” he yelled, drawing the attention of some of the people seated around them. “You mean, this is a date!?” he asked, his voice going up a couple octaves from nerves. Then a thought hit him. This was his roommate's dad. Oh my god what would Angel think? Did she know? “But… does Angel know?” Rhys hissed, wondering how his friend would take the news that he was on a date with her father. Jack rolled his eyes.

“Well, she ain't blind. Unlike  _ some _ people.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know? Rhys asked, a small pout on his face. “It's not like you ever said anything.”

Jack gave him a look of disbelief. “You're kidding, right?”

Rhys thought about it, thinking back on all their previous encounters. He was right, Jack had never really  _ said  _ anything, but the man had on several occasions expressed interest in him in other ways, like all the items he’d paid for... “Oh my god, are you like my sugar daddy?” he asked, his eyes widening. Jack laughed at his expression, as Rhys felt his face nearly catch fire.

“Kinda what I was going for, yeah,” Jack smirked. Rhys felt his face heat up even more, but felt something warm start to spread in his chest as well. He kind of liked the fact that Jack bought him things, especially now that he knew that Jack actually liked him.

“But, we’re not even having sex?” Rhys asked, trying to keep his voice low so the other patrons couldn’t hear.

“That can be arranged if you want.” Jack leaned in, a dark grin on his face, as Rhys swallowed. He was definitely into this, and he was definitely into Jack. Rhys saw Jack’s eyes flick down to his lips, as Rhys made up his mind. He leaned over the small table, crashing his lips together with Jack’s, feeling the older man’s smirk as he kissed him. The two broke apart as Rhys leaned back into his seat.

“God, I can’t wait to have you underneath me...since as my intern I’ll technically be your boss,” Jack said, smirking at the younger man. Rhys blushed at the innuendo, but smiled back. “But for now,” Jack leaned toward Rhys, his hand tangling in Rhys’s hair as he brought the other man’s lips to meet his own again, “I guess this will do.” Rhys opened his eyes to see Jack staring intently at him. “How about we get out of here Rhysie?”

“But, the food-”

“Can be delivered to the room cupcake.”

“The room?” Rhys asked, raising an eyebrow. Did Jack book them a hotel room before Rhys even knew they were dating? Not that he would be mad exactly, but still.

“Company owns this place, penthouse suite is all mine,” Jack replied, a grin on his face at Rhys’s surprised reaction.

“Just how rich are you?” Rhys asked, a small tilt to his mouth indicating that it was more rhetorical than an actual question. Still, Jack answered.

“Filthy,” Jack grinned. Rhys gave a teasing smile, his hand reaching out to grab hold of the front of Jack’s shirt.

“Well then, what’re we waiting for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read this, and the many kudos and comments that you all left. I really appreciate it, and I hope that you all enjoyed the story!

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh this is resonating way too much for me since I just moved into my new apartment and tomorrow is the last day before school starts for me. Also I literally have to go pick up my books from the bookstore on campus. Only I don't have some rich guy buying my expensive textbooks. I wish.


End file.
